Today’s information systems rely on mediation to use and share the data that is available within an enterprise. But this is changing. IT systems are moving away from traditional architectures, where information is hidden inside functions, toward an information-centric approach that separates information from functionality – data without borders. Breaking functionality and information apart creates a systems architecture that is flexible, supports business agility, and ultimately boosts the bottom line.

1. The communications technology journal since 1924 2014 • 4
Data without borders: an information
architecture for enterprises
April 24, 2014

2. Data without borders: an
information architecture
for enterprises
Enterprise information needs to be relevant, available and all parts of an organization
need to share a common understanding of it. As the significance of enterprise information
and business agility rises, an information architecture that can capitalize on the changing
nature of information, how it is generated, and how it is consumed, is an important enabler
for business evolution and growth.
deliver services that provide answers
to basic questions such as “Where
am I?” to more complex queries, such
as“Whereisthenearestgasstationthat
sellsfreshsandwiches?”
Informationvirtualization
Traditional approaches to IT and sys-
tems architecture are also changing
– moving toward greater flexibility to
enable business evolution. This change
is in turn shifting the direction of sys-
tem design toward greater virtualiza-
tionandhigherlevelsofabstraction.
For telco operators, service virtual-
ization of networks and network func-
tions is a key part of ongoing network
transformation. Much of the work on
software-defined networking (SDN)
and Network Functions Virtualization
(NFV) relates to the functional per-
spective of virtualization. Somewhat
less discussed, but just as important,
is the management and virtualization
of information. Similar to the way that
SDN, through abstraction, separates
control (management) from the data
plane, information virtualization sep-
aratesfunctionalityfrominformation.
Natureofinformation
Information is diverse. Many different
typesofsystemsexistforstoring,using
and modifying information, and many
differentsemanticmodelsandformats
are used to describe it. Even within the
sameenterprise,informationisnotnec-
essarilystructuredinaharmonizedway
– there are for example, several ways to
refertopayroll,whichcouldbedefined
aswages,payrollorsalaries.
subscriptiondatabases,andapplication
interfaces.Theanalysisthatcreatesuse-
ful information from this raw data can
be monetized and offered as a service
to other enterprises, but, for most busi-
nesses,goodinformationmanagement
is an essential component of customer
careanddailyserviceprovision.
The growth in machine-to-machine
(M2M) communication is yet another
contributor to the richness of informa-
tion. M2M communication provides
enterprises with remote access to real-
time information accumulated by a
range of mobile and static devices and
sensors – information that can be used
to optimize existing offerings or iden-
tifyservicegaps.
The availability of real-time loca-
tion data has been one of the more sig-
nificant game changers. This type of
information offers developers a basis
for building sophisticated applications
with a higher level of subscriber inter-
est. Map applications, for example,
LARS ANGELIN, JATIN SURI, MUNISH AGARWAL AND AKSHAY MEHRA
BOX A Terms and abbreviations
BSS business support systems
CDN content delivery network
CDR Call Detail Record
CEP complex event processing
CIME canonical information model
of the enterprise
CRM customer relationship management
M2M machine-to-machine
NFV Network Functions Virtualization
NoSQL not only Structured Query Language
OSS operations support systems
RAM random access memory
RDBMS relational database management system
SDN software-defined networking
SOA service-oriented architecture
TCO total cost of ownership
TTM time to market
For most enterprises and
industries, information is an
asset. It is the raw material used
to develop product strategies,
roadmaps and marketing
campaigns – a key element of
modern business practices.
The way people and businesses create
and share information has changed
considerably. The mass-market adop-
tion of the internet, social media, apps
andgaming–aswellasthedevicesthat
have made non-stop information shar-
ing and gathering possible on a global
scale – are just a few of the factors that
havecontributedtothischange.
Consumer insight, for example, is
no longer limited to information gath-
ered by a business in its interactions
with customers. Today, knowledge
about customers, their needs and their
preferences can be assimilated from
a wide variety of data sources, includ-
ing networks, social media platforms,
2
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014
From mediation to information

3. Thesignificanceofthislackofcoher-
ence is most apparent when it comes to
sharing information – when, for exam-
ple, the same information is used by
multiple applications, or across differ-
ent technologies, between different
vendor solutions, or across the internal
boundaries of an enterprise. The com-
plexprotocolsdevelopedbythetelecom
industry are testament to the constant
needforinformationtransformation.
Traditional ICT architectures tend
to be function-centric. As shown in
Figure 1A, they are made up of dis-
creteapplicationsthatperformspecific
network functions – each one with its
own semantics, formats and storage
capabilities. This architecture can be
visualized as many small information
islandsthathavelittleconcernforeach
other. Unfortunately, one of the conse-
quences of this approach is cost; inte-
grating applications that need to share
informationandseparatingsuboptimal
storage utilization is time-consuming
and can be quite complicated. Here are
some general observations related to
evolutionofsystemsarchitecture:
thegrowingsignificanceofinformation
isnotagoodfitwiththefunction-centric
architectureoftraditionalsystems;
thegreatertheneedforinformation
sharing,thehighertheintegrationcosts;
tomakeinformationreusableand
sharableacrossthebordersofasystem,
itneedstobepartofacommonand
sharedinformationmodel;
informationtransformationis
undesirablebutunavoidable–itwillnot
disappearcompletely;
tobeofvalue,informationmustbe
trustworthyandcorrect.
From a software architecture perspec-
tive, if information is already available,
known and in a readable format, it is a
fairly straightforward process to build
anapplicationthatmanipulatesorana-
lyzesthedatainsomewayifitisalready
accessible.However,ifthestartingpoint
for application development is to ful-
fill a specific function without much
knowledge about what information is
available, then the process of accessing
the right information and integrating
itwiththeapplicationislikelytobedif-
ficult and costly. With an information
architecture in place, whatever infor-
mation is available is known, and so no
translationisrequired.
Gap
Enterprise business
Traditional application landscape
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
Traditional
function
FIGURE 1A The enterprise information challenge
Enterprise business
BSS/OSS
Common information and integration services
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
Traditional
BSS/OSS
function
FIGURE 1B Overcoming the enterprise information challenge
3
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014

4. applications, the information at both
the business and application levels
needs to be aligned and connected.
However, achieving this is not a simple
task,withanumberoffactorscontribut-
ingtoitscomplexity,including:
typicaltelcooperatorsmanageseveral
hundred,eventhousandsof,
applicationsandsystemsthatvaryin
nature–includingOSS/BSS,networks,
datacenters,contentsystemsand
cabling;
applications,whenviewedfroman
informationperspective,areislandsthat
arelikelytohavebeendeliveredby
differentvendorsandoftensupport
differenttechnologies;
integrationisneededtogetapplications
tocooperateandperformbusiness
tasks–themoreapplicationsinvolvedin
atask,themoreintegrationconnections
areneeded,thegreaterthecostandthe
longerthetimetocompletion;
manyapplicationsprovidesimilarbut
notexactlythesamefunctionality,they
mayusethesameorrelatedinformation
–thissituationcreatessynchronization
andinformationmastershipissues;
buildingnewfunctionsontopofmultiple
applicationsthatusedifferent
informationmodelsisachallenge;firsta
commoninformationmodelisneededto
translateinformationfromoneformatto
anothersothatitcanthenbeshared;
applicationsarecreatedandterminated
inlinewithevolvingbusinessneeds;
informationandfunctionschange
independentlyofeachother;and
thetrustworthiness,correctnessand
relevanceaspectsofinformationalways
needtobemaintained.
Informationmediation
As Figure 2 shows, information origi-
nates from many different sources and
is consumed by a wide variety of users
(people, applications, domains and sys-
tems) that can be either internal or
external. If information at the applica-
tionlevelisfederatedfrommanydiffer-
entsourcesittendstobemoreuseful.
InsideOSS/BSS
TakingOSS/BSSasanexample,theinte-
grationpointsinclude:
horizontalintegrationwithintheOSS/
BSStosupportcommunicationamong
applicationsofdifferentgenerations,
technologiesandvendors;
Informationontheinside
Enterprises typically have many inte-
grationpoints:
withpartners,customers,suppliersand
regulatorsonanadvisory,commercialor
technicallevel;
amongenterprisesystems;forexample,
back-officefinancialsystemsneedto
shareinformationwithsupply,delivery
andordering,aswellaswithHRand
payroll;and
withproductionsystems–suchas
technology-orvendor-specificnetworks
andcontentdeliverynetworks(CDNs).
Generally speaking, an enterprise
defines the information it needs to
run a profitable business as well as the
characteristics of that information
(static, structured, event-driven, real-
time, transactional or streamed). The
spread of information across any given
enterprise is often extensive, spanning
manydifferentfunctionalareasinclud-
ing marketing, ordering, strategy, HR,
production, and finance. Similarly, the
range of applications that use informa-
tion is diverse; including for example,
CRM, back-office support, payroll, and
resourceplanning.
The challenge comes in connecting
business processes to support appli-
cations and production or delivery
systems – a challenge that is rooted in
thefactthatrules,characteristics,infor-
mation and procedures are not usually
harmonizedwithbusinessprocesses.
The consequences of this gap are
reducedornoagility,lengthyTTM,long
timetocompletion,andhighTCO,allof
whichreducetheabilityofabusinessto
evolve. A step toward overcoming this
challenge,asillustratedinFigure 1B,is
touseasinglefunctiontoserveallenter-
prise applications with information –
making that vital connection between
informationandprocesses.
Enterprises tend to be made up of a
number of domains, each with their
ownsetofinformationsemantics,goals
and characteristics defined at both the
businesslevelandapplicationlevel.The
businesslevel,atthetopofthesemantic
information model, includes the enter-
prise vocabulary and concepts that
describe the interactions between the
peopleandsystemsinvolvedinbusiness
processes. The application level is part
of the internal value chain of an enter-
prise. Activities at this level tend to be
disjointed and are as such regarded as
asetofindependentdomains,inwhich
each application manages its informa-
tion,tailoredtoitsparticularneeds.
Tohelpmaketheconnectionbetween
business processes and supporting
Enterprise production
environments
Mediation/
transformation
Enterprise data model
Other
enterprise systems
PartnerDeployed OSS/BSS architecture
Transformation
Ericsson application
level information model
Other
Other
Other
application level
information
model
Enterprise application level
information model
Enterprise
business concepts model
FIGURE 2 Enterprise architecture
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ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014
From mediation to information

5. northboundintegrationtosupport
communicationwithanenterprise’s
semanticinformationmodels;and
southboundintegrationtosupport
communicationwithproduction
domains.
Towardaninformation
architecture
Thetransitiontoaninformation-­centric
architecture is shown in Figure 3. On
the left hand side, mediation plays a
strong role and the majority of appli-
cations have their own information
model. While on the right hand side,
themajorityofapplicationssatisfytheir
information needs through a common
informationmodel.
The new model is built using emerg-
ing software architectures and makes
useofavailableinformation.Inthisway,
enterprises can take advantage of new
businessopportunitiesastheyarise.
The foundation of the information-
centric model is business-level informa-
tion that is fully owned and managed
by the enterprise, together with a set of
applications that support business pro-
cesses.Intraditionalarchitectures,infor-
mationispiggybackedandhiddeninside
applications. In the new model, systems
recognizeinformation-relatedfunctions
asfunctionsintheirownright.
Inthenewmodel,thesetofinforma-
tion functions are located in one infor-
mationenvironment–theinformation
tier – that serves the entire enterprise.
The available information set, which
ineffectisthecommonandsharedlan-
guageusedbyapplicationsandbusiness
usersisdefinedbytheenterpriseforthe
application layer. In practice, the infor-
mation set is a federation of existing
informationsourcesandisreferredtoas
thecanonicalinformationmodelofthe
enterprise (CIME). The CIME includes
manydifferentinformationtypes,such
asstatic,structured,analytics,real-time
data,andstreamed.
Withfulllifecyclemanagement,the
enterprise can control and maintain
governance – from creation to termi-
nation – for every information object
in the CIME. Full life cycle manage-
ment supports all information events
including creation, publishing, access-
ing, formatting, and storing, allowing
theenterprisetoevolveitsinformation
setasitsbusinessdevelops.
The information tier offers infor-
mation to users as a service. How and
what information can be accessed is
published in an information catalog,
including any restrictions that may
apply. These restrictions can also be set
through the information tier, allowing
enterprises to set the appropriate level
of quality, integrity and security for
individualpiecesofinformation.
As enterprises move deeper into the
information-centric model and take
full control of their information, appli-
cations become reduced to the level of
information consumers and delegated
creators. There are a number of bene-
fits to building systems with an infor-
mationtierandCIME:
lowerintegrationcosts;
smallerapplications–astheinformation
architecturedeliversmanyofthe
informationservices;
fewerapplications–thesame
applicationcanbeusedtoperformthe
sametaskondifferentinformationsets.
Forexample,B2BandB2Cinvoicingare
typicallytwoseparatefunctionstoday;
speedierintegrationwithexternal
systemsandotherinformationsources;
fasterintroductionofnewservicesand
businessfunctions;
flexibilityforbestbusinesssupport;and
informationqualitycontrol.
Servicesoftheinformationtier
The information tier is built with soft-
ware components that offer services in
a service-oriented architecture (SOA)
manner using a layered responsibility
structure. This approach provides scal-
ability, allows for introduction of new
functions, and supports partitioning.
The information tier is event-driven,
and its behavior is controlled by enter-
prise-defined rules and policies – sup-
portingsimplifiedadaptiontochanging
business needs. All management and
governancefunctionsarecentralizedto
gainbetteroverview,commonmanage-
mentstyle,onemanagementconsole.
Some of the characteristics and ser-
vicesoftheinformationtierinclude:
InformationasaService–allinforma-
tionobjectsareofferedasaservicefrom
acentralcatalog.
Immutable objects – when informa-
tionchanges,insteadofoverwritingthe
existing stored object, a new instance
iscreatedwithitsdistincttimestamp.
Analytics – as all data passes through
the information tier, it is the natural
place for analytics and event process-
ingfunctions.
Two-way connection – to simplify the
integration of information coming
from, say, an external data source or a
legacyapplication,theinformationtier
includes a bidirectional mediation and
connectionhandlingservice.
Partitioning – is sometimes needed for
legal,business,tenancyorperformance
reasons. The information tier can be
partitioned by information model, by
storage,geographicallyorlogically.
Storage – is a generic function that
serves the entire CIME. Such as
Time
Role of mediation
Application layer
Information tier
Information content
A B
E
F
G
INF MED
C
D
Application layer
Information tier
A B C F G
E
INF MED
D
FIGURE 3 Transition to information-centric systems
5
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014

6. The information architecture is
based on components to facilitate de-
coupling and late binding, which in
turn facilitates configurable run-time
characteristicsandreconfiguration.
Informationmodels
Meta information
Every piece of information has an asso-
ciated a set of metadata – time stamps,
informationarchitecturefunctionality,
languagetranslations,accessrightsand
storage. Metadata plays a vital role in
thecorrecthandlingofinformationser-
vices,withitsownlifecycleandevenits
ownmetadata.
Each information object has rules
associatedwithit,governingitsowner-
shipandwhatactionscanbeperformed
on it, such as create, publish, expose,
access, store, and mediate. These rules
are part of the system’s meta-informa-
tion and are verified and approved by
theinformationmanagement.
Application-level information model
The CIME helps to simplify application
integration and ensures that applica-
tion-level support exists. The CIME is
usedforallinter-applicationcommuni-
cation and mediation, and defines the
commonandsharedsetofinformation.
Itisfullycontrolled,lifecyclemanaged
and governed by the enterprise. The
information architecture can take the
roleastheCIMEmasterorjustbeasup-
porter,ifanothermasterexists.
The CIME is an ontology, meaning
thatalltherelationshipsofaninforma-
tion object are included in the model
and are rules-based. The relationships
themselves are also defined as infor-
mation objects and also adhere to the
rules of the information architecture.
Building the CIME in this way ensures
that the connection between metadata
andbusinessprocessesandtherelation-
ships between information types can
be maintained, as well as allowing for
transformationsandsupportingdiffer-
ent storage formats. Devising a CIME
from scratch is both time-consuming
and difficult. To simplify the process, a
numberofblueprintversionsexistthat
fitdifferenttypesofenterprises.
Producers and consumers
The information architecture provides
servicestoproducersandconsumersof
Data access and grid
services management
Metadata
functionality
Information
model
Non-real-time API
Customer
and partner
management
Information
management
Application
layer
Data grid framework
Data engine
framework
Data vault
Enterprise
catalog
Event
management
Analytics
management
Bidirectionalintegration
andtransformationservices
Data access and grid services Real-time API
Non-real-time API Data engine services Real-time API
Published
IM
Information accessTransaction
support
ESB
distribution
Reference
and global ID
Analytics and CEP
engines
Storage schemas
engine
Storage
Information service
registry
Integration
master/slave
External data sources
connection management
Enterprise
Master data
management
Reference and ID
management
Communication buses
management
Data access
management
Information model
management
Data transform
management
Grid and vault
management
Data engine
services management
Data persistence
management
Analytics and SEP
engines management
apps
Other
(legacy)
FIGURE 4 Information architecture
storage and persistence services for
applicationsthatrequirelocaldata.
Informationarchitecture
Theproposedinformationarchitecture
comprises three layers – a data vault,
data engine and a data grid – that are
governed by an information manage-
ment function. The detailed architec-
tureproposalisshowninFigure 4.
The data vault offers different stor-
agetypes,includingdisk,randomaccess
memory (RAM) or virtual resources.
The data engine contains a set of com-
ponents that provide access to the data
vault (storage), using a variety of tech-
niques such as RDBMS, graph data-
bases, or NoSQL. The information
owner decides which type of database
best fits their data access and persis-
tency requirements. The data engine is
responsibleforexecutinganalyticsand
complexeventprocessing(CEP).
The data grid is responsible for
information creation, mediation and
ensuring that the appropriate storage
requirements are met. The data grid
exposes information services to infor-
mation architecture users. The appli-
cations that consume and produce
information sit on the top of the archi-
tecture, or to the side of it. Each appli-
cation places requirements on the grid
layer for the information it needs, with
the right characteristics and the appro-
priatelevelofaccessibility.
The information management func-
tion is responsible for management,
controlandgovernanceoftheinforma-
tion architecture. It includes functions
such as definition, creation, registra-
tion, discovery, usage, archiving and
decommissioning. This function is
also responsible for the definition and
managementofanalyticsandCEPalgo-
rithms in conjunction with analytics
andeventapplications.
As data is no longer hard-coded by
each application, but instead shared
among multiple applications, the man-
agement function is a vital element of
theinformationarchitecturetoensure
that data is consistent, available and
robustatalltimes.
6
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014
From mediation to information

7. informationinanenterprise.Onlypro-
ducersassignedwiththeroleofinforma-
tionownercancreatenewinformation
objects and instances of objects. This
roleisassignedbytheinformationman-
agementfunction,whichcanalsoadopt
theownerroleitself.
The information architecture
holds the master information objects.
Applications – even information own-
ers–thatconsumespecificinformation
objects must use the system for access
to that object. All applications con-
nected to the information architecture
share common information through
the same mechanism; all integration
issues regarding external data sources
arehidden.
To ensure data consistency, infor-
mation must be immutable. To meet
this requirement, changes are imple-
mentedbycreatingnewinstancesofan
information object with a unique time
stamp.Thehistoryofpreviousinstances
iskept,andinthisway,themostrecent
informationisalwaysavailablebutpast
scenarioscanalsoberecreated.
Storage
The storage and access formats for an
information object are determined
by its owner. To cater for the varying
information needs of different users,
several storage and access formats can
be assigned to the same information
object. The information architecture
performs the transformation from one
storageformattoanotherandalsotakes
care of storage management. There is
alwaysaselectedstorageforthemaster
ofeachinformationobject.
Varying user needs are typically
related to parameters such as seman-
tic abstraction level, latency, integrity,
rawformatsforreal-timeperformance,
batch/volume,andspecialrequests.
Different formats require different
storageschemas,andthedifferenttech-
nologiesareofferedasservicestoinfor-
mationproducers.
There are far more applications that
useinformationthanthereareapplica-
tions that create it. Many applications
arepseudocreators;inotherwords,they
recreate information for internal use.
Applications that create information
are responsible for storing it, and safe-
guardingitsintegrityandaccessrights.
Asystemwithoutmasterdataiscostlyto
operate and develop, quality can be dif-
ficult to maintain and TTM tends to be
longerthannecessary.
Mediation
Traditionally, the term mediation
refers to the area of collecting and pro-
cessingCallDetailRecords(CDRs)from
network elements for the purpose of
billing.However,inthecontextofinfor-
mation architecture, mediation refers
tothebidirectionaltransformationand
integration services that are essential
for for communication with external
datasources.
The right-hand side of Figure 5
shows the set of functions that support
the flow of information in and out of
the system. This part of the informa-
tion architecture shields applications
on the inside from everything that is
ontheoutside(sothattheyareagnostic
from an information and responsibil-
ity perspective). Typically, this is where
an enterprise interfaces with legacy
systems and external data sources, and
communication is achieved through
grid components that expose access to
information objects. Typical functions
include integration, protocol adap-
tation, handling of services and data
streams,aswellastransformation,and
identitymapping.
Mediation components can be
selected, configured and bundled
together to create mediation ser-
vices. The mediation components are
arrangedsothattheymodeltheflowof
information in and out of the system.
Likeallotherinformationinthesystem,
the data carried over communication
channels, also needs to be understood
andtransformedintotheCIME.
Canonical representation supports
abstraction of an information object
intoitsconstituentelements,datatypes
and placement. These generated object
definitionsarethensuitableforfurther
processing through transformation
components.
Integration
There is more to integration than
simply creating connections to
Non-real-time API Data engine services Real-time API
Data access and grid
services management
Customer
and partner
management
Information
management
Application
layer
Data grid
framework
Data engine
framework
Data vault
Enterprise
catalog
Event
management
Analytics
management
apps
Non-real-time API Data engine services Real-time API
Analytics and CEP
engines
Storage schemas
engine
Storage
External data sources
connection management
Enterprise
Master data
management
Reference and ID
management
Communication buses
management
Data access
management
Information model
management
Data transform
management
Grid and vault
management
Data engine
services management
Data persistence
management
Analytics and SEP
engines management
Transformation components
Mediation runtime
- Routing
- Enrichment
- Normalization
- Correlation
- Aggregation
- Filtering
- Duplicate detection
- Load distribution
- Transaction management
- Flow management
- Session management
- Event definitions
- Schema/metadata
- Encoding
- Decoding
- Real time
- Streaming
- Batch/file
- Unidirectional
- Bidirectional
Structured data
management
Communication
components
Bidirectional mediation services
Other
(legacy)
FIGURE 5 Mediation architecture
7
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014

8. external data sources. Beyond basic
connection, this part of mediation
includes consolidation and complete
life cycle management of connections
to the world outside the information
architecture.
Thecommunicationcomponentsare
self-sufficient; they can manage and
encapsulate the complete life cycle of
communicationwithanexternalentity
–includingtheabilitytoinitiateorwait
for connections, apply interval-based
polling,andretrievedataon-demand.
Communication components encap-
sulate the integration points and are
responsible for ingesting data from
external applications or data sources,
and for external distribution of data.
A variety of communication protocols
can be used for this purpose, and they
can be real-time or offline, streamed
or batch-oriented, unidirectional or
bidirectional – all of which needs to
be managed by the communication
components.
Transformation
Transformation functions operate on
the object representation of incom-
ing and outgoing information content.
A given transformation component
encapsulatesprogrammaticlogicto–in
asinglewell-definedstep–completethe
transformation and deliver the infor-
mation object to its intended destina-
tionand/ormapitintoitscorresponding
placeholder(accordingtotheCIME).The
primary aim is to be able to transform
seemingly non-compliant data into a
CIME-compliantframeworkortotrans-
formdatatobecompliantwithanexter-
nalprocess.
Transformation is a two-way pro-
cess that can be achieved in a number
of ways – information mapping, pro-
cedural translation and orchestration
– depending on the complexity of the
transformation needed. Information
mapping is not, as might be expected,
exactly one-to-one, but can be used to
transform information objects that
closely resemble the CIME represen-
tation. Procedural translation is used
when algorithmic logic is required to
translate an information object into
the CIME representation. Otherwise,
orchestration can be used for transfor-
mationsthatarenoteasilyencapsulated
intoasinglestepexecution,suchas:
handlingcardinalitydifferences–in
situationswherethereisamany-to-one
orone-to-manyrelationshipbetween
externalinformationobjectsandobjects
thatareinternaltotheinformation
architecture;
achievingtemporalalignmentor
asynchronouscommunication–sothat
out-of-banddatacanbecorrectly
sequencedonthebasisoftimestamps
(orsomeothercriteria);
correlatinginformationreceivedfrom
multipleinformationsourcesto
constructsingleinformationobjects;and
aggregatinginformationthatissplit
acrossmultipleexternalinformation
itemsintoacombinedinformation
object,usingthresholdsbasedonatime
windoworothercriteria,suchas
summationvalues.
Eventprocessingandanalytics
Analytics routines and CEP are placed
in the data engine layer as they per-
form information services requested
byauser.
Typically,servicesofferedincludetra-
ditional queries, real-time analysis, big
data analytics, data streaming, pattern
identificationandeventdetection.
Implicationsfortraditional
applications
The current approach of information
management, and hiding information
insideapplications,needstobemodern-
ized.Informationcontrolandassociated
business logic need to be externalized
from the application and put under the
controloftheenterprise.
Manydataqueriesandanalysisfunc-
tions need information originating
frommultipleapplicationsandinforma-
tion sources. To ensure analysis is com-
parable, it should be performed by an
separate analysis service and not inter-
nallybyapplications.
Applications may cache information
andareresponsiblefordeterminingthe
structure of this information. Cached
information is always a replica of the
master,andapplicationsareresponsible
forassuringtherelevanceofthecached
information – providing updates when
necessary.
For (real-time) performance reasons,
applications may use caching tech-
niquestostoredatalocally,butthedata
vaultistheonlypersistentstorage.
Conclusions
Tomaketheshiftfromtraditionalappli-
cations acting as isolated islands to a
fully life cycle managed information
architecture takes time. However, the
shift to an information-centric archi-
tecture is an incremental one, and so
both approaches will exist in parallel.
Mediationplaysapivotalroleinsetting
upaninformation-centricarchitecture,
but once the majority of applications
conform to the architecture, its signifi-
cancewillslowlydecrease.
An information-architecture model
provides enterprises with centralized
and shared set of information services
andfunctions,makingthevitalconnec-
tionbetweeninformationandbusiness
processes–thekeytoflexibility.
An information architecture is a
single, shared and stable information
environment that is trustworthy and
can be used by all the applications of
an enterprise. It separates functional-
ityfrominformation,hidesintegration
aspects, and is responsible for storage
andpersistence.
Thehigherlevelofabstractionthatan
informationarchitectureprovidesgen-
erates many benefits. For example, as
all applications within the system use
the same semantics and formats, inte-
gration costs are lower. Connections
with external systems are simpler, as
there is only one internal representa-
tiontotranslatetoandfrom.Withonly
onemodelandonemaster,qualitymea-
sures are easier to enforce, and secu-
rityiseasiertoassure.Functionalitycan
be reused on different data sets, which
reduces the number of applications
needed to conduct business. And appli-
cations become smaller as common
information services are provided cen-
trally. Ultimately, a single information
architecture offers flexibility, allowing
an enterprise to make the most of busi-
nessopportunitiesthatarise.
The primary challenge for the enter-
prise is to define and manage the CIME
thatdefinesitsbusiness.
In developing the information archi-
tecture concept described in this arti-
cle, Ericsson has focused on the telco
industry. Information services tend to
begeneric,andsotheconceptis,inthe-
ory,applicabletoanyindustry.
From mediation to information
8
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014
From mediation to information

9. Munish Agarwal
is a senior specialist in
multimedia architecture
and chief implementation
architect for DUSS. He has
been working at Ericsson since 2004,
primarily in the OSS/BSS area. He is
currently the driver for the OSS/BSS
implementation architecture and is the
product owner for Next Generation
Execution Environment. He holds a
B.Tech.in material science from the
Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur, India.
Jatin Suri
is a senior specialist in
mediation solutions and a
member of the BUSS
architecture team. He has
been working at Ericsson since 2005 in
the area of BSS/OSS and is currently
the deputy chief architect for revenue
management (invoicing domain). He
holds a B.Eng. in computer science
from the University of Pune, India.
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ISSN: 0014-0171
Volume: 91, 2014
Akshay Mehra
is the unit manager for
M-Commerce RD. Prior
to holding this position he
was the system manager
for multi-mediation, supporting the
sales team with mediation-based
solutions. He has been with Ericsson
since 2008, working in the OSS/BSS
area. He holds a B.Tech. and an M.Tech.
in microelectronics from the Indian
Institute of Technology, Bombay, India.
Lars Angelin
is an expert in the
technology area
multimedia management
at BUSS. Lars has more
than 28 years of work experience in the
areas of concept development,
architecture and strategies within the
telco and education industries. Lars
joined Ericsson in 1996 as a research
engineer, and in 2003 he moved to a
position as concept developer for telco-
near applications, initiating and driving
activities, most of them related to M2M
or the OSS/BSS area. He holds an ­
M.Sc. in engineering physics and a
Tech. Licentiate in tele-traffic theory
from Lund Institute.
9
ERICSSON REVIEW • APRIL 24, 2014

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